Confirmed: Apple acquires Shazam, the media identification app

Shazam will likely be integrated into Apple Music

Apple on Monday confirmed its acquisition of London-based media identification app Shazam. Rumors of a buyout first surfaced late last week and spilled over into the weekend courtesy of TechCrunch.

Apple provided the publication with the following statement on the matter:

“We are thrilled that Shazam and its talented team will be joining Apple. Since the launch of the App Store, Shazam has consistently ranked as one of the most popular apps for iOS. Today, it’s used by hundreds of millions of people around the world, across multiple platforms. Apple Music and Shazam are a natural fit, sharing a passion for music discovery and delivering great music experiences to our users. We have exciting plans in store, and we look forward to combining with Shazam upon approval of today’s agreement.”

Financial terms of the acquisition weren’t mentioned although sources say the deal is valued in the $400 million range.

Interestingly enough, Apple has reportedly been working to hammer out a deal with Shazam for about five months now and it wasn’t the only interested party. Sources say Spotify and Snap had also held talks with Shazam regarding an acquisition.

Shazam was early to the mobile music space and developed quite the following with around 300 million annual active users. Turning those users into dollars, however, has proven difficult as the music industry as a whole has shifted focus from selling digital music to peddling subscription services. Shazam has pivoted along the way to keep revenue up; now, we’ll get to see how Apple utilizes the media identification technology.